Home of Today's Common Sense

Published Brownsville Herald July 4, 2010

The vision for a car-passenger ferry service between the southern United States and Central America began in Brownsville, Texas in 1994 while I was assigned as a Supervisory Customs Officer at the new Free Trade Bridge in Los Indios, Texas.
I observed that during just a few months the number of expatriate Central Americans crossing into Mexico en-route to their homes in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, etc. grew exponentially.
I also, found that the government of Mexico, in an effort to limit foreign vehicles being sold illegally in Mexico had designated the new bridge as a primary crossing point for those in transit.
The Central Americans, ”Transmigrantes”, made arrangements for vehicle entry permits, posted security bonds and a place in an officially accompanied caravan through agents located on the U.S. side.
After interviewing a number of these “Transmigrantes” I found that the trip, of more than five days, was difficult and hazardous, as well as costly in unexpected official fees and repairs.
There were 21,153 Transmigrantes exporting vehicles during 1993, which more than doubled to 50,409 by 1994, when I retired.
The numbers doubled again to 107,066 by 2008, and then started receding in 2009 when the extraordinary violence in Mexico began to be felt.
The original planning was done with two friends then employed by the prestigious marine engineering firm, M. Rosenblatt and Son, Inc, who worked with me to develop a business plan that made financial projections as accurate as possible; as related to costs and benefits. A plan, I might add, that was very well received when presented at an annual meeting of the American Society of Marine Engineers, who subsequently published our “May Paper” in their journal.
In addition to family visits, these “Transmigrantes”, have also been engaged in the transport of vehicles and consumer products back to Central America. On average, there were more than 1,200 vehicles weekly transiting the Southwest border at the border port of Los Indios, destined for Central America. Now there are between 2200 and 4000 weekly.
The overland journey through Mexico and Guatemala takes from five to seven days, and is arduous due to bad roads and interference by local officials, as well as most recently by narco-traffickers. Mexico also has severe restrictions on certain classes of merchandise permitted to accompany these “transmigrates”, as well.
In answer to the above need, Isabel Cortes Ferry Service Limited was formed. The Car Passenger Ferry, Regal Voyager arrived in Port Isabel, Texas on December 29, 1996 and completed U.S. Coast Guard requirements by January 10,1997. The vessel departed on its first voyage January 14,1997. The vessel had facilities for 277 passenger in cabins with private facilities and 106 passengers in cabins without private facilities, It also had space for 60 commercial cars or 360 regular sized vehicles as well as refrigerator connections. We found this to be a suitable size for a weekly service. The Regal Voyager was also able to complete the round trip between South Texas and Honduras in six days which allowed for one day of maintenance.
The Isabel Cortes Ferry Service was operated for one year.
Recurring engine problems with the vessel and that a lack of a timely replacement qualified to serve U.S. ports, resulted in the termination of service. The “Transmigrantes” and others who saw the benefits in the new Trade route, still, more than ten years later, inquire about a return of the service.
My first instinct in the planning was to focus on whatever market would provide for all costs of operation with just revenues from the trip south to Central America from the United States. (That’s where the money was most evident) For the most part, this began with conveyances (buses, cars, personal type trucks) stuffed with all manner of user goods, and accompanied by passengers. In a short period this also expanded to construction equipment and buses for resale, sometimes accompanied and sometimes not.
As time went on there became a seasonal factor. During some of the winter weeks the major part of the revenue was from tourists and seasoned citizens (over 50). Perhaps a return to the migration of “snow birds” of earlier years!
For the above reasons, I would characterize the most appropriate model as that of a conventional airline. Seasonal market forces, including passenger issues such as food service and personal comfort that change the focus of the revenue stream are best addressed by such a model.
In June of 2001, I became aware that Captain Gabriel Cserei, a mariner with long experience, then an inspector of vessels for “Country certification”, had formed a venture called Maya King Superferries (MKS) to provide Car-Passenger vessel service between U.S. Gulf Ports and the Caribbean and Central America.
The name Pan-American Maritime Highway was first noted in February 2003 as a result of meetings arranged by Captain Cserei that included a number of Houston maritime leaders and a large marine systems corporation.
In preparation for further meetings with I.A.B., The InterAmerican Development Bank, Maya King Superferries (MKS) prepared a design that had been in the planning stages for a number of years. It was planned to represent a transportation alternative, capable of handling passengers, road traffic and small, unitized cargo within the emerging global trade area of the Caribbean and Central America (including Mexico). It called for regular sailings around the year, from ports in the Southern USA into ports of the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America, which would allow hundreds of thousands of passengers to visit and carry small parcels along with their automobiles, RV’s, etc.
The new maritime trade routes would be established between ports in Central America and along the old Pan-American Highway, which would bring immediate improvement to the existing land and ocean transportation systems servicing the Americas.
The Pan-American Maritime Highway then became, Technical Cooperation project RS-T1178 for the Inter-American Development Bank(IDB) in June 22, 2005 and began studies, some of which were conducted in the Brownsville area in 2006. The evaluation was completed March 20, 2009 and reported on May 31, 2010.
See http://www.iadb.org/projects/project.cfm?id=RS-T1178&lang=en
The “IDB” supports efforts by Latin America and the Caribbean countries to reduce poverty and inequality. They aim to bring about development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way.
They were established in 1959, and are the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean, with a strong commitment to achieve measurable results, increased integrity, transparency and accountability. “IDB” has an evolving reform agenda that seeks to increase our development impact in the region.
While they are a regular bank in many ways, they are also unique in some key respects. Besides loans, they also provide grants, technical assistance and do research.
Their shareholders are 48 member countries, including 26 Latin American and Caribbean borrowing members, who have a majority ownership of the “IDB”.
The fact that this prominent entity examined the possibilities serves to amplify the importance to the region of this concept.
From what information I was able to glean from excerpts of the study and general conversation with some of the study participants, a number of valuable insights have convinced me even more that:
The Pan-American Maritime Highway, is a concept whose time is overdue.
Many thanks to Marco Camacho López at IDB for helping to keep me honest in regard to their policies.
In the next column I will discuss the building of a Car-Passenger Ferry operation to satisfy many needs and to help expand the affected economies.

1. James Gibbs says:

   January 1, 2011 at 7:18 pm

   US citizens living in Central America mostly retired, are fed up with the hassle of air travel. We would like to have a way to snow bird with our autos. We have the time and would welcome a way to easily migrate with the season. I myself have driven across Mexico eleven times and those who I have discussed this with are becoming reluctant to drive because of the danger involved.

   Reply to this Comment